Quick Takes Friday #6
Cabrini, isolation, rebuttal, beauty, reading
How is your Lent going so far? Ours is pretty typical big family chaos. We didn’t make it to church on Ash Wednesday because of illness. I insisted that a child eat what they had given up. We’re all hoping this is the day that we put a cap on how many days a person can live on toast alone. And… God is good and ever faithful!
Blessed be God.
CABRINI. I had the chance to see the “Cabrini” movie this past week and enjoyed it. I wasn't interested in watching until I saw some good Catholics calling it feminist tripe and some trads taking an opposite position and defending it. Since some of those same trads describe themselves as "radical" and use the word feminist as a descriptor for pretty much anything they don't like (ask me how I know)... I was pretty darn curious about this thing. An opportunity presented itself and I gladly accepted.
It was a beautiful movie. I’ll be writing a fuller review soon but to answer the question “Is it feminist?” No. It’s anti-feminist. Someone may not like the dialogue or the artistic choices (I didn’t prefer all of them), but calling it feminist is inaccurate. I know feminism, how it manifests, and how it destroys. I don’t use the word lightly.
It’s PG-13 so not suitable for young kiddos. Rated for mature themes like the suffering and death/violence in the slums of New York in the late 1800s, prostitution, and slight use of profanity (though I only recall one). The target audience is clearly intended to be broad and not just Catholic homeschooling moms, so you’ll be watching one artist’s “based on the life of…” story of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, not a catechism session. It leans toward the dark… but also gives light. It is beautiful and instructive. And thankfully not at all like the recent disastrously bizarre and inappropriate Padro Pio movie.LITURGICALLY APPROPRIATE STOMACHS. Is it even Lent without one round of a stomach virus? I’ve seen 26 Ash Wednesdays as a mother and I’m pretty sure we’ve been quarantined for half of them. I’m finally old enough to laugh about it. (Someone reading this should make a note to learn that lesson sooner than I did.) I will allow myself one boast and admit that I am exceptionally good at rising from a dead sleep and instantly being across the house at the sound of stomach virus. You know the sound.
ISOLATION. I am staying on social media for Lent this year and shared the following message on Shrove Tuesday:
Before you all leave for Lent, I just want to throw a thought out there…
There are very lonely people who find great solace in their faith-based internet communities. Some people are home bound. Some are single and living alone. Some are sick. Some are struggling in faith. It doesn’t matter what the reason is… there’s a lot of them.
And sometimes when faith community isn’t present, the lesser things of the world are available and enticing. So for those who are staying…
Be a light.
And for those who are leaving…
Maybe check on people if you know they might be lonely. A Sunday message is easy.The messages I got across all platforms following this post moved me deeply. I heard from widows and widowers, the grieving, the homebound, those struggling with depression, and others who find strength and solace in community they can’t currently have in their local community for one reason or another. For better or worse… social media is people. It is a part of community now. This is not to shame anyone for stepping away (it is important to do so at times and I respect all who stay away completely) just to raise awareness of isolation.
REBUTTAL VIA BEAUTY. In response to the controversial “He Gets Us” Super Bowl ad that has been circulating, one Christian pastor made his own video called “He Saves Us.”
Stunning. The former abortionist featured at 0:26 saved the lives of my friend, Colleen, and her baby. He prayed over them on the operating table. She said: “Because He redeems us, Callum and I are here today.”
GRANT ME RESPITE, OH LORD. My friend, Heather, recently invited me to write a piece for her monthly newsletter, The Landing. I was happy to contribute and leaned into a topic I'm fairly comfortable with: Lent for the Weary
”I believe that my many years of illness have been permitted by God to allow my ego to be stripped down past where I never would have chosen to go. I go into lent with nothing. Diminutive and broken. And it is in that place that I have no energy, no objection, no pride left with which to keep the Lord from occupying the space … And He fills it.”MY LENTEN SHOULDER. My Advent shoulder injury has become a Lenten project. I’m continuing with mobility and strength as I’m able but I’d love to be able to put up my own hair, reach the cupboard, wash pots with previous vigor, and sleep for a reasonable period of time, soooo… praying and working for all that. I’m working on staying nourished through food and movement.
WHAT I’M READING.
Forever Strong by Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Today’s takeaway: Focus on protein first. Fill in with carbs and fats last. Adjust the latter to caloric needs but don’t decrease protein. Continue to preserve and build muscle through movement for overall health.
Love One Another by Fulton J. Sheen
Today’s takeaway: Sheen quoting Jung (1944)…
”About a third of my cases are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives. This can be described as the general neurosis of our time.”
Thank you to all who have subscribed to The Wild Return. I’m so grateful! And to those who have upgraded to become paid subscribers? You have blessed us. I want you to know that this has been a season of rather large unexpected bills. Your generosity is noted and thanksgiving offered to God… and I will be in touch somehow soon.
Sometimes writing online feels like whispering into the ocean, but social media, for all its faults, can actually feel like real community… because it is. Real people, bodies, souls. As I learn the ropes on this substack platform, it’s warming up here as well. Thank you so much for hanging in here with me and for every word of challenge (iron sharpening iron!) and encouragement.
God bless you!
Melody
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Thank you for your movie reviews! You saved my eyes from the Padre Pio debacle and I have tickets to Cabrini next Friday so I had to hear what you had to say. And I’m SO glad it sounds like it will be great!
I’d love to hear more on your anti-feminism comments. I’ve argued elsewhere that while some forms of feminism have had redeeming effects, secular feminism is incompatible with Christianity.
I understand why some women call themselves “Catholic feminists,” but as the word “feminist” requires about a paragraph of explanation, shouldn’t we use a different word? And I’m wondering if I shouldn’t do likewise and dispense with the term “anti-feminist” as that also varies so widely in meaning.
I love your writing and hearing about your life. You give hope and sensibility.